Sectional printing-form bed



June 23, 1925. 1,543,066 J. s. DUNCAN SECTIONAL PRINTING FORM BED FiledAug. 8, 1924 UEI UIDDIEIEEIEIEEIEJEJEIEEIEI 'FEIUEUEEIEHEIIIEIUEHZIPatented June 3, 192 5.

" or crrroaeo, 1 1 m,; conrorra'rronorfrnrmorsg sEo'rIoNhL' PRINTINQFORMBED.

Application filed' Aug'ust 8,=.1 924." Seria1.No. 730317;:

Toallwhom it, mayconccmfi,

Be it known :that I, J OSEPH S. DUNoAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county ofiGookand State of Illinois, haveinvented certainnew'and useful Improvements fin Sectional Printing-Form, Beds, of which the following is a specification.- 5 7 ,5

This invention relates to printing form beds, and more particularly-tobeds adapted for receiving and holding sectional printing forms made ofsheet metal and having printing characters struck up on one facethereof, as set forth in my, -Letters Patent No. 1,054,-

284, patented February 25., 1913, andNo. 1,203,718, patented November[7, 1916 and No. 1,209,412, patented December 19,1916, to my presentassignee.

For many years address plates have been made by striking up printingcharacters on a plate of convenient size, and, as my previous patentsindicate, the same idea has been employed in striking up printingcharacters from larger plates in the form of sections which areassembled on a printing form to print a whole letter or other text. Myprevious patents set forth the necessity for maintaining a uniform linespacing corresponding as closely as may be with that of a typewriter, sothat the impression may be made to closely imitate that of a typewriter;and they also set forth the desirability of a bed having transversegrooves suitably disposed thereon to receive a longitudinally extendingdown-turned flange or down-turned retaining lugs for holding thesections in fixed position.

It was contemplated heretofore that the grooves in the bed for receivingthe flanges or lugs of the printing form sections should be spaced apartto correspond with the width of the sections, but it has been found'inpractice that this does not give the desired flexibility in thecommercial use of a sectional printing form of this kind, becausesometimes it is desired to space the sections apart and to permit theuse of sections of diflerent widths.

Therefore, the object of my invention is to provide a bed of simple andimproved construction adapted to accommodateprinting sections ofdiflerent widths, and also adapted to permit printing sections to bespaced apart, preferably according to line spacing on the bed.

; Fig. .2 is a sectional ,Fig. 3. is a side view showing 1- theremovable locking plate onthebed." .Referring to the-drawings, 5des'ignates the formbedwhich is-made preferablyzof solid.-.cast;iron.toprovide a firmjand even support ,for, the printing form sections 6,which are arranged side by sideupon'the the accompanying drawingsillustrating a selected'embodiment of the invention, Fig. 1 is a planviewv of a bed embodying the invention-and showing several 1 printingforms thereon.

viewion line 2 2 :of

for securing. the sections bed, and are provided with down-turnedlugs'iadjacent their ends to engage grooves 8: at the margins of thebed. A side plate9 is secured on oneside ofthe bed,.preferably the leftside, by screws 10, and this side plate has a flange 11 to engage theends of the sections. A side plate 12 is arranged at the other side ofthe bed, and it is provided with angular grooves'13 to engage the headedbolts 14 rigid with the bed. A stud 15 on this side plate 12 facilitateshandling the plate. The side plate 12 is also provided with a flange-16to engage the ends of the sections.

I prefer to employ the down-turned lugs 7 of my Patent No. 1,203,718instead of the flange 9 of my Patents No. 1,054,284'and No. 1,209,412,because they are more easily inserted in the grooves and seem to answerthe purpose quite as well as the continuous flange. And I also prefer tomake the grooves extend in only a short distance from each side marginof the bed, suflicient to receive the lugs, since this leaves the mainbody of the bed unbroken and adapted to form a smooth and continuoussupporting surface for the sections, which can be easily and at alltimes kept clean and free from dirt.

As I have heretofore stated, it was contemplated in my previous patentsthat the grooves should be uniformly spaced to accommodate sections ofuni-form width, but this has been found to be too inflexible foruniversal use, and I have overcome this by line spacing the grooves sothat I may use sections of different widths or space the sections apart,as desired. This comparatively ents has very materially simplified theuse obtained more closely imitating a typed letter. This inventionenables the printing sections to be used more economically than hasheretofore been possible, because narrow sections may be employed whensuitable for the purpose, and because the sections can be spaced apartwhen desiredto provide a form letter with special line spacing.

. It will be readily understood that'when the sections are prepared theside plate 12 is removed from the bed and the left ends of the sectionsare inserted'in the grooves at the left of the bed and beneath theflange 110i" the'side plate 9, after which the sections are engaged withthe 'gro'oves at the right of the bed and the side plate 12 is appliedin-place. This canbe done quickly and easily'and' the construction andarrangement'of the side plate12 provides a locking device ofsim'pleconstruction, which can be easily applied for securing the sections inplace; 5

I am aware that changes in the form, con- 'stru'ction and arrangement ofparts may be made without departing from the spirit and withoutsacrificing the advantages of the invention and I reserve the right tomake all such changes as fairly fall within the scope of the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. The combination of a printing form section having type charactersthereon and down-turned lugs on one side edge adjacent its ends, a bedtherefor having a series of grooves adjacent each side margin to receivesaid lugs and spaced apart according to the line spacing of the typecharacters on the section,'and means for holding thesections in place onthe bed.

2. Thecombination of a printing form section having type charactersthereon and down-turned lugs on one sideedge adjacent its ends, a bedtherefor having a series of grooves adjacent each side margin to receivesaid lugs and spaced apart according to the line 'spacingof theitypecharacters on the section, a flange at one side edge of the bed forengaging one end of the section, headed bolts on the other side edgeofthe bed, and a. removable side plate having a flange to engage theother end'of the section and provided with angularslots for engagingsaid bolts. Q

JOSEPH S. DUNCAN.

